Anima, Animus
by Viesky
Summary: A writing experiment, focusing on Krieg/Maya interactions, as well as the power struggle inside Kriegs mind.
1. Chapter 1

Writing legend:

Kriegs spoken word; ALL CAPITALS, ALL THE TIME!

Kriegs Inner monologue: **Bolded sections.**

Everyone Else: Normal typing with quotation marks.

Anima, Animus.

A Borderlands Story.

I woke up, squinting into the desert sun. I would say that I'm confused as to how and why I'm here, but this happens more frequently then I'd like to admit. Looking down, I notice that my hands and pants are smeared with blood, maybe mine but I can't be sure yet, all I know is that I'm standing in the middle of a pile of bandits bodies again.

**Hey, meatbag. Had fun did we?**

**Oh well, I guess I can't blame you for it can I.**

"Woke up" might not be the right term for what just happened. If I was sane, I would probably say something like "Let me start at the beginning..." But I'm not really sure when the beginning was. My memory is limited in the specifics department, only remembering the important things or constants in my life. I am affectionately known as a "Psycho." Nice eh? It basically means I'm a perversion of the Berserker style of life. Great risk, with great rewards. Immense energy expenditure allows me to overwhelm opponents, charge in for the one-hit-kill. Usually taking damage in the process. Damage taken fuels the frenzy. It's really a perpetual spiral that drives itself into one of two outcomes. I die, not pleasurable, but it hasn't happened yet. Or this happens. I regain consciousness in the middle of a battlefield, injured and bloodied trying to piece together where and when I left off.

**Oh gods, this has got to stop.**

**Alright, look around, let me take a look at you, check for injuries that need attention.**

TIME WAITS NOT FOR THE GLORY OF THE BLOODY CARNIVAL!

**Fantastic. Shut up, and let me keep us alive, okay?**

GRRRAHH! MINI MEDIC KEEP US ALIVE UNTIL PURPLE!

**Thank you, just show me our body. Use some of that water to wash the blood off so I can actually see if we need fixing.**

After forcing myself to hold out my arms and check all the vitals, everything looks to be in one piece. Hopefully I can find some good loot on these guys then figure out where the hell I am.

**Hey, still here? Look around, grab any food they have, then lets get away from here and find our bearings.**

After checking all the bandits, and finding nothing more than a tough hunk of bread and some old condensed milk cans, I figure it's about time for a break. Sit down, eat, and try to remember who I am.

**Mmm... I know we have a name, but I don't know what it is. But we're looking for someone... Not to kill, we need to find this person.**

LOVELY LADY IN MY CHEST, MUST BE HANNUKA!

**Oddly enough, that was actually helpful. We need to find a girl, she's important because of something.** **I'll come back to that. Alright, we ate, now lets get out of here, find a hill or something to climb so I can get a good look around.**

BUT THE RAVENS BEAK IS A TIN HAT OF GLORY! I WANT TO SAW IT OFF!

**Umm... I don't know what you want... Wait a moment.**

Knowing he won't listen to me until I at least try to figure out his ramblings, I start to look around for something bird like, or silvery... or made of metal. I'll probably have to break it off, whatever it is.

I grumbled around under the hot sun for a few minutes before a shine caught the corner of my eye, and I swung my head around to see a half-buried contraption that looked like a curved baseball bat with a table-saw blade attached to it, welded into a sleeve to allow it to spin freely.

**Shiny... A shiny saw. A fricken' axe? That's it! You couldn't have said AXE? Unbelievable. Just get us out of here before we die from the heat.**

PUT IT IN MY SPEEN SO I CAN BLEED WEAPONS!

**I'll take that as you liking it. I agree, it suits us.**

Spotting a hill in the distance, I decided to start walking to burn off some frustration. As angry as I was about the incoherent nature of my dominant half, he did a good job at picking an attractive weapon. As far as melee goes, this will just about win every battle you put it in. Looking it over, the previous owner cared for it, but didn't use it very often. It was mostly brown wood, the metal painted blue and red with the banner "BLITZKRIEG CO." stencilled into the side, but some of the letters were worn out. Leaving just the word "KRIEG" to be seen. As we reached the top of the slope, it turned into a rocky cliff face, giving an outlook on most of the surroundings for a few hours walk in any direction. Looking back to the pile of bodies left behind, then back out, spotting a train station. I figure it might as well be a good place to focus on so we don't get lost.

**See that station? Follow the tracks so we don't end up walking in circles like last time.**

I said this, assuming he would listen, but he was standing dumbly at the top of a hill, still staring into the letters etched on his newfound weapon.

**Hey, look up so I can show you where we're going.**

YOU SHOW ME A BUCKET, AND I'LL SHOW YOU A BUCKET!

A PRETTY TRINKET FOR NAMELESS! A BAD NAMELESS.

**Oh you want a name? Too bad, we don't have a name. **

The massive figure hunched over the axe, peering at it with his one uncovered eye, concentrating hard at it.

WE HAVE, KRIEG... KRIEG...

**Krieg? War? Huh, figures. I guess I see your point.**

Feeling satisfied at his contribution, the newly named Krieg climbed down the front of the rock-face, and made his way to the tracks, humming as he tossed the axe up, letting it complete a full turn before catching its handle again. Now relaxed, the two voices quieted as they made their way slowly towards the distant station.


	2. Chapter 2

Writing legend:

Kriegs spoken word; ALWAYS CAPS, ALL THE TIME.

Kriegs inner monologue; **Bolded sections.**

Everyone else; Normal typing with quotation marks.

Before the story actually starts...

In reality, I never meant to do anything with this story. It was mostly an interesting thing to do in my pasttime. However, that being said I've grown rather fond of the idea, and I'm going to continue writing. Now that I have a laptop and the time to write, I'll do more and try to come out with pieces more frequently. After being one of the many infatuated with "A meat bycicle for two," I quicky fell in love with these two as a unit, so while I will be including the others into the story. I intend to mainly focus on these two, and try to provide as good and interesting story as I can. Almost immediately after discovering this idea of Maya/Krieg, I also discovered an unfortunate lack of their coupling in fanfiction, and even the Borderlands story base as a whole. So while I may be pandering to a smaller interest group, any of you who sees this, I hope I can improve upon the market of fanfiction, as it were.

Now enough ranting.

Anima, Animus.

Chapter Two.

MY LEG STICKS ARE BURNING

**I feel them too... **

WHY DO WE DO

**Look, I can't do anything about it okay? The desert is always hot. It's not because of us.**

The two were silent after that. The inner, trying to deal with the pain of walking on desert sand for two full days, and the outer just at a lack of response to his ironclad argument.

**Alright, we've been walking forever, I actually forget what being fed feels like, I'm certain there's a village, or colony nearby... At this rate, I'll even take bandits.**

Krieg breathed deeply, and opened his mouth to yell a response, but before he could say anything a giant worm erupted from the ground, leaping straight at his chest, knocking him backwards and into the sand. Gasping for breath and looking around in confusion, trying to make sense of the blurred mess, Krieg looked to the right, and saw his axe less then an arms length away, half buried in the sand. Gathering a burst of strength, Krieg let out a harrowing bellow and lunged, grabbing his axe and rolling onto his feet, standing upright in a balanced fighting pose, ready to defend himself. Looking around for the beast to reemerge, his vision started blurring.

**Hey, snap out of it, we're fine.**

STARS...

**No, we've come too damn far to die like this, you're a warrior so pull yourself together!**

SHOW YOURSELF DEATH TUBE, I WANNA SMEAR YOUR ENTRAILS ON MY EYEBALLS!

Krieg shakes his head, and puts the heel of his palm to his forehead, wiping the sweat off of his brow, and regripping his axe handle, brandishing it in front of him.

**That's the spirit!**

The ground started shaking, and Kriegs entire frame begun vibrating as he clamped his mouth shut to stop his teeth from chattering. The worm burst from the sand, and brings its body upright, bending his head down to become the same size as Krieg.

**Now!**

Krieg unleashes a ferocious scream and charges the worm, swinging his axe diagonally at the worms left eye, hoping to blind the beast and buy them a fighting chance. But the worm leans back, and swings his head at Krieg, ducking under the axe and hitting him square in the chest.

Falling to his knees, struggling to stay concious, Krieg leans down on all fours, gasping for air.

**Just take a moment, this can't be the end... Krieg come on... Pull yourself... together... no... not like this...**

Krieg falls onto his side, barely awake, and looks up as the massive shadow looms over him. He tilts his head to meet its eye, but suddenly it looks terrified, and quicky turns to dive back into the sand, tunneling away.

Allowing himself a moment of confusion, he stares blankly before he hears the slow approach of cautious footsteps, seeing the shadow of a head.

He makes a last ditch effort to get up, but everything fades to black, and he hits the sand out cold.

Maya grips her gun tightly, shifting her trigger finger closer just in case, as she approaches the massive body on the ground. Flipping him onto his back, she stands back and points the gun at his corpse, ready to fire if he shows any sign of agression.

"Just another psycho, should've known."

She reshoulders the gun, and prepares to fire when the body starts tossing like he's having a bad dream. Maya pauses and leans in closer, hoping to hear what he's saying.

**No, no, they're innocent. Remember our deal, we only kill the deserving. Do you remember almost killing her? You were out of control... No... No more. I can't... I can't take it... Stop... No, keep control! No they'll only hurt us more!**

Maya jumps back as all of his muscles tighten and his eyes bolt open.

GWAHAHHA THE DOCTOR IS IN, IT'S KILLING TIME!

Krieg begins to start yelling some more, but it fades out, and he gradually quiets down and untenses his muscles until he looks as if he's slumbering peacefully with only a minor twitch every once in awhile.

"I can't kill you, there's something in there. Come on big guy, my camps not far from here, just outside the desert."

She looks around, and grabs an old hood that of fell off of a car long ago, and looks like it's been sitting here ever since.

"One of Scooters hunk of junks, no doubt."

She mumbles, groaning under the strain of pulling a body twice her size onto the makeshift sled. Holstering her gun, she grabs the front grill and starts to pull the unconcious form away towards the forest rising in the distance.

She wonders what she's doing, caring about this stranger she hasn't even met yet. Trying to understand why she doesn't just kill him now and save possible trouble later. But looking back at him, she sees he's curled into a ball, hugging his axe like a teddy bear, and she can't help but smile.

"Geeze, I'm going to have to restrain you until I know you're not a threat. For my own safety. But even though you're big, you remind me of the child I was never allowed to be."

She chuckled to herself before turning her attention back to the task at hand. Even though It fell upon deaf ears, it's still nice to talk to someone for once, she reasons with her unconcious.


End file.
